Next Friday sees National Work from Home Day sweep across the UK as part of Work Wise Week, a non-profit campaign encouraging employers and employees to share with the world the benefits and methods to work from home successfully.
It’s been predicted that by 2020, 50% of the UK’s workforce will be working from home based on data from the Office of National Statistics. Here at the IOEE, roughly 70% of our staff work at least 1 day a week from home. With more and more companies accepting and adopting flexibility when it comes to it’s employees’ well-being and the workplace environments the provide, actually how beneficial is it to work from home?
There are many pros and cons to home-working but there are just as many for working in an office. The real gamechanger is socialization, working in your PJs might sound appealing to some, but the feeling of missing out on inter-personal relationships at work would deter my own enthusiasm to work alone. In contrast, the necessity of co-worker communication to achieve company goals is not limited thanks to modern technology meaning less limitations and more opportunity to work from home.
Another argument against working at home would be that instead of improving the work/life balance, it actually could dishevel it. If a home-worker is less efficient with their time, clocking out could be an issue. If working from home gets you too immersed into a project and you work through regular office hours, it could see your home and work life meld together, and that can’t be a good thing.
Working in an office can also have it’s flaws, away from the benefits of being around co-workers (who could often be a distraction), working in an office can be physically testing. It’s all too common for office workers to have to use contacts or specs in order for their eyes to cope with the amount of screen time they put in daily. Plus, accidents are more likely to happen in the work place as well as the potential for back and neck pain to strike from being seated all day.
I think the balance of work and life can be accessed via both working from home and working in the office. Even one or two days at home throughout the week can improve your productivity meanwhile being in the office can develop positive co-worker relationships.
If you want to find out how to successfully work from home, look out for our Top Ten Tips for successfully working from home on Sunday or follow the hashtag #nwfhd